New year, new garden

The garden - January 1st

It's cold and snowy today. In other words, it's a perfect day for staying indoors and planning for spring. I've got a stack of seed catalogs to read, and I've begun planning the layout for The Garden - 2014.

I'm not much for resolutions, but I do like the feeling of a new beginning that comes with the new year, and with it the motivation to identify goals for oneself and new things to learn and do. In the spirit of the new year, then, here are my garden goals for this year:

1. Grow more beans. I want enough beans to can. I want to try runner beans. I want to harvest some dry beans.

2. Establish some fruit. I started this in August with a rhubarb plant, but I'm also thinking about strawberries and raspberries. I planted some peach pits this fall, but I know the chances of them growing are slim.

3. Start seeds indoors. This is one of those things that seems very difficult to me, largely because it takes equipment and space. This year I'm going to start small.

4. Chickens. I probably won't actually get chickens this year, but if I'm ever going to have them, I need to start planning. I also need to make sure I leave enough space in the backyard for them.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by K's Garden in 2013, and I wish all of you a healthy and productive 2014 filled with good things from the garden.

Tomato basil risotto

Made with onions, tomatoes and basil from the garden.

I use a very simple recipe off the Arborio rice package. This time I added some of my oven-dried tomatoes and dried basil. Definitely good winter comfort food.

Merry Christmas!

The garden - December 24th

I'm actually more excited about the solstice and the fact that the days are beginning to get longer, but I forgot to take a picture last weekend.

Radish Plan - major setback

If you need to catch up on the radish plan, click here and here.

I mentioned before that one of my dogs had taken a liking to the radishes and was chewing on them.

It didn't take the other dog long to get in on the fun. They chewed on the leaves and the roots. I figured once the ground froze, their fun would be over. Not so.

What once looked like this

now looks like this

and this

I can't find any radishes remaining in my yard. It's possible they grew deep enough that the dogs haven't been able to dig them all up, but I'm not holding my breath. I think my grand plan for soil improvement through radishes has been thwarted in a way I never saw coming. I guess my contribution to the cultivation of Groundhog Radishes is establishing that dogs love them.

Perp 1

Perp 2

Luckily, I've kept the gate on the garden this winter, so they haven't been able to eat the radishes I grew in there. Hopefully these will help the soil in this corner a little bit.

It's winter

Maybe not officially, but it's close enough, and there's nothing new in garden world.

The garden December 15th

In fact, this morning's picture of the garden hardly looks different than the one from last weekend.

The garden December 7th

Some of the snow has melted, and the sun is shining today. Temperatures are supposed to be warmer this week, so, if nothing else, my next picture will have less snow.

This weekend's birds: blue jay, junco, cardinal, downy woodpecker, sparrow, chickadee.

They must not read the blog

I just got done declaring that seven tomato plants was enough, and then I got this in the mail.

Totally Tomatoes

 

A catalog that declares itself "devoted to the avid tomato grower". I may not exactly fit that category, but just looking at the cover makes me want 10 tomato plants next year. (I do realize the picture is sideways, but I cannot figure out how to get a rotated version from photobucket to blogger.)

The same day I got the tomato catalog, I got this one, too.

Vermont Bean Seed Company

For a few seconds, I thought I could get away without looking at this one. Vermont is a long way away, and I prefer to buy from companies that are within a couple state radius, if I can. As it turns out, however, the Vermont Bean Seed Company's address is in Wisconsin, and they have runner beans, which I really want to try next year, so I guess I'll be keeping this one.

Getting these catalogs in December highlights one of the great things about gardening: optimism. The garden looks like this today:

And our temperature hasn't been above 20 for three or four days, but I can still imagine little green things growing next spring.

Today's birds: cardinal, junco, starling, downy woodpecker. I haven't seen many lately, but the snow makes them appreciate my feeders.

Things I learned this year

Last year at this time, when I was dreaming about the garden, I was very aware of my own ignorance. I knew I was venturing into something at which I could easily fail. At this point, though, I consider The Garden 2013 a huge success. That's certainly not due to the fact that I knew what I was doing, however, and I learned a lot of things along the way.

1. Seven tomato plants is enough for us.

I planted eight plants, and one of them did not amount to anything. Even with some blossom end rot, the tomato jungle was amazing, and I ended up with canned and frozen tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, salsa, pickled cherry tomatoes, frozen roasted tomato and vegetable sauce, oven-dried tomatoes, and whole frozen tomatoes. Enough of all of them for us to be enjoying tomatoes well into winter, and I was still able to give away fresh tomatoes.

2. Never underestimate a mother rabbit. Enough said.

3. When it comes to peppers, all I really want are red and green bells. I planted nine pepper plants this year, representing seven different varieties.

The variety was pretty, but none of them stood out flavor-wise. The only plant that produced a lot of fruit was the poblano pepper (the dark green ones), and I've discovered that I don't really care for them. In the end, I was disappointed that I didn't have more chopped red and green peppers in the freezer.

4. Everything takes up more space than the online garden plan says it will.



Zinnias - much more than one square foot

5. I shouldn't plant anything too close to the gate.



Those pretty pink zinnias wouldn't let me in.

6. The fall garden needs to be planted much earlier than August 31st.

Cabbage August 31st

Cabbage November 29th

7. Squirrels are really destructive. I lost almost all of my sunflowers to squirrels....

But all I lost to rabbits were a few leaves off an ornamental sweet potato.

And rabbits were actually living inside the garden at one point.

Cuter than any squirrel

8. I love growing potatoes. Seriously. I have to figure out how to store them, so I can grow more next year.

9. There's nothing more rewarding than eating something you grew.

Beets - delicious with Thanksgiving dinner

Ugly but yummy carrot pie

Homegrown potato salad

9.5. I'm a horrible food photographer.

10. I can't wait to do it all again next year!